Alternate National Warning FacilityOlney Special Facility

Gaithersburg, MD 20882

The Alternate National Warning Center is located in a protected underground Regional Federal Center at the Olney Special Facility near Olney, Maryland, in the suburbs of Washington, DC. The Center has access to warning information at the same time it is available at NORAD.
Both the National Warning Center (NWC) and the Alternate National Warning Center are staffed 24 hours per day and serve as the primary control for the National Warning System (NAWAS).
In case of attack, the center would sound the alarm over the National Warning System to warning points operated on a 24-hour basis in over 1,200 localities. With the end of the Cold War, this function has been deemphasized, and the facility now serves as a Satellite Teleregistration Facility, along with the other Regional Facilities, such as Denton, TX.

Sources and Resources

US Senate Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on General Legislation, Military Procurement, Fiscal Year 1978, 10 April 1977, page 6954.